1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to techniques for solving constraint problems for a problem domain. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system for reusing information associated with a constraint solving operation across one or more problem domains.
2. Related Art
Advances in semiconductor fabrication technology have given rise to dramatic increases in the number of transistors per semiconductor device. This increase in transistor count is empowering computer architects to create digital circuit designs with an ever-increasing design complexity. Consequently, as digital circuit designs become more complex, the task of verifying the correctness of the resulting implementations becomes more complicated.
In response, circuit design teams are relying on automation techniques to handle the ever-increasing design complexities. In doing so, these design teams perform constraint solving operations for a number of applications associated with implementing and verifying the functionality of a circuit design. In one application, these design teams perform constraint solving operations to generate constrained random input stimuli to drive a given circuit simulation toward important corner cases. In another application, these design teams perform constraint solving operations during circuit synthesis. However, these applications can be overburdened by a multitude of recurring complex constraint satisfaction problems. Furthermore, a number of independent problem domains (i.e., application instances) must oftentimes solve similar complex constraint satisfaction problems, where one independent problem domain can stand to benefit from the experience of another problem domain.